Friday, February 26, 2010

Earlier i use to rate Lotpot not that much high as compared with other cartoon comic/magazine such as Madhumuskan,Deewana,Parag etc.Near to me Lotpot was a kiddish type comic magazine with very ordinary features except Motu-Patlu(Of Bhardwaj Sb.only),though i read a few Lotpots in early 80's and except Pran's Chacha Chaudhry nothing impressed me as till then Bhardwaj Motu-Patlu were also drifted to other publications such as Diamond Comics etc.Very recently i find a opportunity to lay my hands on very early issues of Lotpots and while going through them in detail a whole new dimension of Lotpot unfolded before me,i was amazed to find there features of many artists who became very popular later on.
I found unearthed features of Jagdish,Shehaab,Sukhwant,P.D.Chopra,Pran,Jitendra Bedi,Manik etc thus erasing all my misconception about the quality of Lotpot.Along with Deewana,Lotpot was the unique comic magazine which provided initial platform to the finest cartoon artists of India from where they were able to carve their own niche.

'Lotpot' title was registered by Mr.A.P.Bajaj in 1969,initially it was a fortnightly magazine which later on switched to weekly mode.Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj was the main protagonist and also creator of legendary Motu-Patlu.No doubt Motu-Patlu were the main feature of attraction of Lotpot but Pran's Chacha Chaudhry was no less than along with Shehab's and Jagdish's features.Have a look at one of the early Pran's Chacha Chaudhry

Pran created a numerous characters though all of them were not able to enjoy that success which Chacha Chaudhry,Billoo and Pink enjoyed.Nevertheless,in the early issues of Lotpot he created some characters which formed the base on which Billoo and Pinky were created.One such character was Deepu.

It was surprising to read Jagdish Ji features in early Lotpots as then his art was very much different than which we know through Madhumuskan,or better to say it was quite ordinary.Have a look yourself to judge it.

What a amazing improvement in Jagdish Ji's art later on if comparing it with Popat-Chaupat and Sustram-Chustram of Madhumuskan era.There was one another artist who also had undergone through the similar amazing transformation of improvements in his art and he was Jitendra Bedi(Manoj Chitra Katha,Raj Comics-Bankelal fame).Have a look on Jitendra Bedi of Lotpot era.

Do you remember Jasoos Dalda(Madhumuskan),it was drawn by Manik,see one of the feature of Manik in early Lotpot.

It was also a pleasant surprise to find work of mysterious artist Shehab Ji in Lotpot,since not very much is known about Shehab and his work hence it was something big to find some of his unseen work in Lotpot.Have a look.

Do you know that Manglu Madari and Bandar Bihari which use to appear as a single feature in Madhumuskan were actually two different features and characters which were later on merged in a single feature by Shehab.In early Lotpots these two characters use to feature up separately.

Do anyone have any more information on this comic magazine,Shavak,which was supposed to be a publication of Lotpot .I never-ever came across a single issue of it.

Sukhwant(Jr.James Bond fame of 'Chitra Bharati' and Chandru of Madhumuskan) was use to be a corner cartoonist alike Ranjit,perhaps he was allotted a full page feature for the first time in Lotpot only.

P.D.Chopra('Minni' of Madhumuskan fame) was also a regular artist of Lotpot.

There were also another artists such as Ajay Pandit,Jassal,Vinod etc whose features were also quite interesting.Hence in total Lotpot was a legendary comic magazine of its time and have a history of being associated with some of the finest illustrator and cartoonists of India.Have a look at some of the vintage covers of it.

Cartoonist Pran has designed very few covers for Lotpot,here are a couple of very early and rare covers designed by him.

and here is the cover of a latest(2007) issues of Lotpot.In modern era Lotpot there is no Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj,no Sukhwant,no Jagdish and none of any other renowned artist.Most of the features are done by Harvind Makkad,a quite ordinary illustrations quality wise.Lotpot is till in publication with a history of around 2000 issues behind it.

So,this was all in this special Lotpot post.See you in the next post.....did i forgot something!!ohh,yess..here is a complete vintage issue of Lotpot for you all.Enjoy.

i never knew that other than chacha choudhary and natkhat neetu other strips were part of Lotpot. the only thing you missed to mention is the amazing stories, small drama, published in lotpot. some of the stories are still in my memory. couple of stories i read were based on some students living in a hostel. in one story they helped the flood victims and other one they saved one poor man canteen.

later when dimond was publishing motu patlu comics i never saw papita ram in any of the strip. some of the motu patlu in Lotpot were really funny.. i remember Patlu planning to make Tajmahal in his 'gali ka Nukkad' , motu as a shikari with a rifle but rifle barrel has a 's' bent.Patlu planned to pull car from his mouth and Dr jhatka gives him his special toothpaste with a broom as toothpaste..

all the stories where there is a tussle between motu patlu and ghaseeta ram were always funny. cannot forget the punch line .. " mujhe har kam me bees sal ka tajurba hai"

What an incredible post, Zaheer Bhai. It shows in better limelight one of the earliest comic publishers and promoters in India, in the form of Lotpot.

Jagdishji illustration looks like he wanted to have a cartoonist brand to himself then the essence of comics way, which he later might have realised in due time.But they still seem to be good compared to what we see at present as comics :)

So much rare information of early forms of some of the cherished Indian comic characters, thanks for sharing all of them Zaheer Bhai.

As you rightly pointed out, Who knows if not for magazines, like Lotpot, may be we wouldn't have seen any of the legendary writers or artists who we have come to know of it later.

Kuldeep Jain: Thanks Kuldeep Bhai for appreciation.its because of avid and keen readers like you which inspires me to dwell more into Indian comics and comic history.Well,after going through the early issues of Lotpot i came to the conclusion that Lotpot have had a very bright past record of being associated with some of the finest and renowned illustrators and cartoonists.Regarding Motu-Patlu,it certainly was a laughter hangama feature of those old times and all credit goes to K.S.Bhardwaj ji who created and developed such a hilarious characters.Dr.Jhatka and Ghasitaram were the main protagonists after Motu-Patlu.Ghasitram greedy nature and his actions were worthy of making laughing volcano erupt.Yes,"Bees Saal ka Tajurba" was the punch line of Ghasitaram.Motu-Patlu and Jagdish's Madhumuskan characters are the one which still brings smile whenever i go through them still now.Kuldeep Bhai,its not so that there are not good writers or good illustrators as before but the problem is this no publication wishes to publish comics on the trend of old era,all tries to publish stories of unnatural super-heroes or of very cheap comedy.Aunpam Sinha,Manu(Doga fame),Chandru(Pratap Mullick's disciple) are some of the names which are really talented but needs support of good scripts to shine of their way.A whole Lotpot is posted along with this special post,i think you might have overlooked it.What can be more befitting than itself a vintage issue of Lotpot!

Rafiq Raja: Thanks Rafiq Bhai for the kind words.Yes,Lotpot proved like 'fossils' which unfolds so many information about the art and civilization of that time.We were quite unaware of the early work of these superlative artists which Lotpot provided.

Harvinder Mankkar: Welcome to Comic World Harvinder Ji.There was not any slightest intention to underrate your work,in fact you have done a voluminous job which is praiseworthy indeed,but this post was talking about Kripashankar Bhardwaj's Motu-Patlu and very initial Lotpot which have created a certain image of Motu-Patlu stories in readers mind and when we readers found the later stories deviated from that what we were used to read till now then but naturally the image of Motu-Patlu in our mind suffered a set back and hence the said reaction.Your blog and art studio site itself speaks up of your vast talent and huge work incorporated up till now.